The present invention relates to a packaging box, particularly one made of cardboard or a similar material, intended to house, and hold in place during transport and/or during the storage period, an object such as a flexible tube, for example one made of metal. More particularly, the invention is aimed at a packaging box of the type with built-in wedging, making it possible to improve the immobilization of the packaged object as compared with a simple box, and protect it from any damage.
Packaging boxes of this type have been known for a long time for protecting and presenting products packaged in tubes, such as cosmetic products for example facial care creams, protective sun creams, toothpastes, and also dermo-pharmaceutical products, adhesives, foodstuffs such as mayonnaise, etc.
These tubes, particularly when they are tubes containing a cosmetic product, often have a small volume, considerably smaller than the volume of the packaging in which they are intended to be stored. For this reason, a wedging device is desirable, to hold the tube stationary in its box, during transport and the storage period.
At the present time, many packaging boxes equipped with a wedging device are available on the market. The cost of these boxes needs to be as low as possible, hence the need for their structure to be simple and for their manufacture to be easy and lend itself it automation. To this end, every attempt is made, wherever possible, to produce packaging boxes which are equipped with a built-in wedging device, made as a single piece, by cutting out a flat blank of cardboard or some other similar material. This operation is followed by successive foldings of the various portions of the flat blank of which the box is made. The box may thereafter be strengthened in a conventional way in preparation for the packaging of an object, by gluing.
FR-A-2,771,378 discloses a box for packaging an object such as a tube, this box being obtained by successive folding operations on a one-piece flat blank comprising means for wedging the object inside the box. This flat blank consists of a succession of eleven panels, joined together by parallel fold lines. Seven panels are used to form the wedging means. The box is strengthened in three gluing zones.
The manufacture of this box requires relatively complicated industrial tooling which leads to a high cost of manufacture. Furthermore, the structure of this box requires a flat blank of relatively high surface area by comparison with the volume of the box formed after the flat blank is assembled.
Another source, DE-U-299 02 027, describes a packaging box for a tube, obtained from a pre-cut and pre-folded cardboard flat blank forming four faces intended, after folding, to form the outside of a parallelepipedal sleeve. The two open ends of the sleeve comprise, as is usual, two end wall panels capable of closing the ends of the sleeve and of forming therewith the outside of the box. The flat blank further comprises a succession of six elements of substantially triangular structure. The elements extend transverse to the longitudinal direction of the blank, thereby requiring a relatively significant amount of material. These elements are arranged inside the box so as to define a xe2x80x9cfunnel-shapedxe2x80x9d space in which the object that is to be packaged can be wedged. This box has pretty much the same drawbacks as the box described in FR-A-2,771,378.
Hence, the present invention aims to provide a box comprising a built-in wedging system, the structure of which is simplified by comparison with the boxes mentioned hereinabove, and which can be produced automatically using an inexpensive manufacturing tool.
The invention also aims to produce a box with built-in wedging, the flat blank of which is of reduced size, as compared with the flat blanks of the aforementioned boxes.
Another aspect of the invention is a box which can be knocked down flat after the wedging structures have been assembled and fixed. By virtue of this arrangement, it is possible to store a batch of empty boxes in a minimum volume, allowing the object that is to be packaged to be introduced directly thereafter, once the box has been opened up.
It should be understood that the invention could still be practiced without performing one or more of the preferred objects and/or advantages set forth above. Still other objects will become apparent after reading the following description of the invention.
To achieve these and other advantages, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention includes a box for packaging an object. The box is preferably made of cardboard or similar material, and is intended to contain at least one object, for example a tube of cosmetic product. This box is formed from a one-piece, pre-cut, substantially flat blank delimiting four faces joined together along substantially parallel longitudinal fold lines. Thus, after folding, a sleeve is formed whose ends can be closed by two end wall panels. Structure is provided for wedging the at least one object inside the box, the wedging structure being formed of a portion of the flat blank extending substantially as a longitudinal continuation of a first face. In other words, the wedging structure is a portion of the flat blank, which portion lies on the longitudinal axis of one of the faces of the pre-cut flat blank.
These wedging structures are designed so as, when the box is assembled, to partially delimit at least one housing intended to house the at least one object, the housing being of a cross-section which varies gradually over at least part of its axial height.
Advantageously, the cross section of the housing is substantially zero at a first end of the housing and substantially equal to the cross section of the sleeve at a second end of the housing which is the opposite end to the first.
Advantageously also, the wedging structure includes at least two parts inside which the housing is formed.
Advantageously, the portion forming the wedging structure is connected to this first face by a first transverse fold line.
According to one embodiment, this portion has one end adjacent to the first face, and a free end intended, when the box is assembled, to be fixed to a second face, located facing the first one. With such a configuration, the wedging structure constitute a structure that forms a housing capable of housing the object inside the structure.
Thus, the portion of the blank forming the wedging structure includes a second transverse fold line between the end adjacent to the first face and the free end, the portion being folded about the second transverse fold line before its free end is fixed to the second face, the second transverse fold line forming the end wall of a zone of the box that is intended to house the object.
Advantageously, the free end of the flat blank portion forming the wedging structure is fixed to the second face near one end of the box located at the opposite end to the second transverse fold line.
According to a simplified embodiment, the free end of the portion may not be fixed to the second face. In this configuration, the free end is intended, when the box is assembled, to rest freely against the second face located facing the first. The resting of the second end against the second face is to a greater or lesser extent dependent on the volume of the object wedged between the two parts of the wedging structure.
Alternatively, the portion forming the wedging structure is folded about the second transverse fold line before its free end is fixed to the second face so that the wedging structure comprise at least two parts on the outside of which the housing intended to house the object is formed. In this configuration, the portion is connected to the first face by the first transverse fold line, the portion forming the wedging structure comprising an end adjacent to the first face, and a free end intended, when the box is assembled, to be fixed to a second face adjacent to the first. With such a configuration, the wedging structure constitutes a structure forming a spring capable of wedging the object between an external zone of the wedging structure and two adjacent faces of the sleeve.
Advantageously, the flat blank includes a sheet of cardboard, corrugated cardboard or any other material, such as a sheet of plastic, which has been appropriately cut and folded.
In particular, the object to be packaged is, for example, a tube, made for example of plastic, metal or a metal/plastic complex and containing for example a cosmetic product, and having one of its ends formed by an end wall obtained by squeezing together and welding along a closure line, it being possible for the tube to be of a width that increases towards the closure line. The second end of the tube has an open neck with a removable cap. However, in theory, any other object can be packaged in the box according to the invention, provided it has an appropriate shape.
Advantageously the portion forming the wedging structure comprises a second transverse fold line located between the end adjacent to the first face and the free end of the internal portion. This internal portion is folded about the second transverse fold line before its free end is fixed to the second face, the second transverse fold line forming the end wall of a zone of the box that is intended to house the object.
In other words, this then yields a box of parallelepipedal external shape, formed of two parallel main faces, two parallel side faces and two parallel end wall panels, at least one of which can remain open for introducing and extracting the object, the wedging structure comprising a two-part internal portion, these two parts making an acute angle between them. Each of the ends of the two side faces has a fold-in flap, which is folded before the two end wall panels are closed. However, it is conceivable for boxes of prismatic shape to be produced.
Advantageously, the free end of the internal portion of the flat blank forming the wedging structure is fixed to the second face near an end of the box located at the opposite end to the second transverse fold line.
Preferably the second transverse fold line is not parallel to the first transverse fold line. Specifically, the second transverse fold line may, with the first transverse fold line, make an angle xcex1 of between about 0xc2x0 and about 45xc2x0 and preferably from about 5xc2x0 to about 35xc2x0. Thus, when the box is assembled, the two parts of the portion forming the wedging structure are twisted. This yields a configuration whereby the second fold line may be situated roughly along a diagonal, with respect to the cross section of the sleeve the box.
As a preference, the angle xcex1 is chosen so that, depending on the dimensions of the box, the box can be knocked down flat after the sleeve has been formed and after the wedging structure has been fixed to the second face.
Advantageously, the free end of the flat blank portion forming the wedging structure is in the form of a tab attached to the flat blank portion by a third fold line parallel to the first transverse fold line. This free end is fixed to a zone of the second face, which zone is located near the end of the box located at the opposite end to the second transverse fold line.
The second transverse fold line has a mid-point located a determined distance from the first and second transverse fold lines. Advantageously, the distances are substantially identical.
According to one particular embodiment, the portion forming the wedging structure has an opening, for example a central opening, stretching in particular on each side of the second fold line. This opening is intended to house and immobilize an end portion of the object consisting, for example, of the cap of a tube. If appropriate, this opening can be made on just one of the portions of the wedging structure.
According to another embodiment, the box of the invention can be used for packaging two separate objects, each object wedged at one end of the box. For this purpose, two wedging structures are provided for wedging the two objects, each of these being located at one of the ends of the sleeve. These wedging structures are formed of a first portion of the flat blank and of a second portion of the flat blank, the first and second portions being oriented away from each other, each of the portions being of a length at most equal to the height of the box, defined by the length of the longitudinal fold lines of the sleeve.
Thus, the layout of the box of the invention allows one or two objects to be inserted into the box on an automatic packaging line. This arrangement also makes it possible for the object or objects to be positioned and immobilized in a given orientation inside the box, this being convenient, particularly when the objects are fragile.
The arrangement of the box according to the invention also allows the production of a box of simple structure with a small number of parts; an appreciable reduction in the total surface area of the flat blank as compared with the volume formed by the box, due to minimal superpositions of the various panels when assembling the box; the use of a simple and inexpensive industrial tool; and a fragile object can be protected against knocks during transport. The already assembled box, ready to receive the object that is to be packaged once the box has been opened up, can be knocked down flat, making it possible to minimize the volume required for storing the box prior to use. The external faces of the box may be decorated or printed at the same time as the visible part of the wedging structure and flexible positioning of the wedging structure by elastic deformation (bending and/or twisting) is possible.
According to one aspect of the invention, a box is provided. The box includes a substantially flat blank having a plurality of faces joined together along longitudinal fold lines, the faces forming, when the blank is folded along the fold lines, a sleeve having two ends, each configured to be closed by a respective end wall, and a wedging structure configured to wedge the at least one object inside the box, the wedging structure being formed from a portion of the blank extending substantially as a longitudinal continuation of a first face, the wedging structure being designed so as, when the box is assembled, to partially delimit at least one housing configured to house the at least one object, the housing having a cross-section varying gradually along at least a portion of the housing between first and second ends of the housing.
According to another aspect of the invention, a system is provided. The system includes a box comprising a substantially flat blank having a plurality of faces joined together along longitudinal fold lines, the faces forming, when the blank is folded along the fold lines, a sleeve having two ends, each configured to be closed by a respective end wall, and a wedging structure configured to wedge the at least one object inside the box, the wedging structure being formed from a portion of the blank extending substantially as a longitudinal continuation of a first face, the wedging structure being designed so as, when the box is assembled, to partially delimit at least one housing configured to house the at least one object, the housing having a cross-section varying gradually along at least a portion of the housing between first and second ends of the housing, and a tube containing a product.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a box for containing at least two separate objects is provided. The box includes a single-piece, pre-cut, substantially flat blank having four faces joined together along substantially parallel longitudinal fold lines, the faces forming, when the blank is folded along the fold lines, a sleeve having two ends, each configured to be closed by a respective end wall, and two wedging structures, each configured to wedge one separate object inside the box, the wedging structures being formed from portions of the flat blank, one portion extending substantially as a continuation of a first face and a second portion extending substantially as a continuation of a second face, the wedging structures being designed so as, when the box is assembled, to partially delimit two housings, each housing configured to house one respective object, each housing having a cross-section varying along at least a part of its length.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of making a box for containing at least one object is provided. The method includes providing a substantially flat blank having a plurality of faces joined together along longitudinal fold lines, folding a portion of the blank forming a wedging structure and extending substantially as a longitudinal continuation of a first face along a first transverse fold line, folding the portion of the blank forming the wedging structure along a second transverse folding line such that a free end of the portion is adjacent to a second face when the box is assembled, and folding the blank along the longitudinal fold lines to form a sleeve having two ends.
In order to give a better understanding of the present invention, a number of embodiments of a packaging box according to the invention and depicted in the appended drawings will now be described by way of purely illustrative and non-limiting examples. Beside the structural arrangements set forth above, the invention could include a number of other arrangements such as those explained hereinafter. It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the following description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.